Videos on memory of witnesses may throw wrench in Zimmerman trial

3 years ago

(Jonathon M. Seidl) Eyewitness testimony. Those two words are usually a slam-dunk when brought up at trial. But what if eyewitness testimony was as useless as a screen door on a submarine? What if the words “eyewitness testimony” conjure more concern than hope?

According to a TV show recently re-aired on the National Geographic channel and forensic psychology expert Scott Fraser’s research, we should not be putting as much stock in eyewitness testimony as you may think. And in fact, that caution could help shed some light on the George Zimmerman trial.

“Each time you revisit a memory, the pathways between [your neurons] are rewired, altering the brain physically, and the memory chemically, until ultimately we believe that which we remember to be true,” the narrator says in an episode of the show “Brain Games” that aired in the fall of 2012 but aired again over the weekend.

In other words, your memories aren’t as reliable as you think they are.